Improvement in electric telegraphs



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALONZO OHAGE, OF SYRACUSE, NEW' YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,673, dated September4, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AL'bNZo GRACE, of Syracuse, in the county ofOnondaga and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in TelegraphInstruments and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a lettered board, which illustratesone feature of my invention. Fig. 2 represents a device for breaking thecircuit of a line of telegraph-wires, and introducing into such line thedevice shown in Fig. 1, or an ordinary telegraph-instrument. Figs. 3, 4,and 5 are detailed views of the device by which the circuit of the linecan be broken at pleasure.

The object of this invention is to enable persons who are not skilled inor acquainted with the system of telegraphing to signal any message overthe wires of a line of telegraph. The invention can also bensed byexperts, who will be enabled by means of it to trans mit messages morerapidly than by the ordinary key.

The invention will be especially useful for railroad conductors when, insituations of emergency, they desire to signal the condition of theirtrains or of a railroad-track over the wires, or to call for assistance.

It consists in means for breaking a telegraph-circuit out upon the lineat pleasure, as will be hereinafter more fully shown.

In Fig. 1, F and G designate wires of a telegraph line leading inopposite directions, whose ends are connected with a lettered board, E,which has four groups of platinum plates, 6, representing, by theirrelative sizes and positions, the letters A B O D according to the Morsesystem. I have shown only four characters or letters in this example ofmy invention, since they are enough for the purpose of illustration, itbeing understood that the board E, or whatever other surface or deviceis substituted for it, is in practice to contain the whole series ofcharacters or letters of the Morse or other system whose symbols areemployed in using my invention. The wire F, which enters the thumb-screwH at one end of the plate, has a metallic connection with each group ofplatinum plates 6. The other line-wire, G, enters the thumb-screw I, andhas a metallic connection, thence through the flexible wire J, with thethumb-screw K upon the head of the pencil L. The said thumb-screw K hasametallic connection with the metallic point M through the body of thepencil, which is made of a non-conducting material for protectionagainst shocks in handling. By steadily drawing the point M of thepencil, under the conditions above stated, across the first group ofplatinum plates 0 the circuit is broken and closed in such a manner asto signal the Morse character A upon the line. In like manner the otherletters, 13 O D, may be written, and the sound or mark pro duced in thereceiving-instrument will be the Morse symbols for those letters. Theboard E or equivalent device for containing metallic symbols is to be ofsufficient capacity to contain all the characters of the Morse or otheralphabet.

Fig. 2 shows a device designed to facilitate the breaking of atelegraph-circuit out upon the line, and the introduction therein of theletter-board E or its equivalent, or of any ordinarytelegraphinstrument. The letter N designates an oval block, into whoseopposite ends are inserted the line-wires O P, which enter and passthrough the same to the sides of a chamber, S, formed in the center ofsaid block, where they terminate. This chamber opens 011 the lower sideof the block. 0onnected with the end of line-wire O is a metallic springor spring-plate, T, which fits within said chamber S, but is not longenough to have its ends meet each other when in its normal position. Itsfree end has a socket, 0, formed thereon, as seen in Figs. 3, 4, and 5.In its normal state or position this spring presses firmly against theend or head of the other line-wire, P, thereby insuring electric of thekey is held centrally in the said chamber by means of a screw-cap,U,through whose center it passes, and which cap is screwed into the openends of the chamber. From one side of the stem of the key Q extends anarm, d, which enters the socket c of the spring, so that if one turnsthe key in such a way as to bring the arm d toward the left the spring Twill be drawn away out of contact with the end or head of the line-wireP, and the electric connection of the wires 0 P is thereby interrupted.X is a portion of aconnecting-pole, the metal arm V of which, passingthrough the ring of the key Q, furnishes a lever, by means of which thekey can be turned and the electric connection broken in the said chamberS. The connectingpole is designed to be used from the ground, and isprovided with a metallic hook, W, which, when hooked over the line-wireP, keeps the pole in place. Upon the lower end of said pole arethumb-screws a b, the first of which has a metallic connection with thearm V of the pole by means of a wire, 3 and the latter with the hook Wby means of the wire z, the arm V and hook W being insulated from eachother. It will be observed that when thus placed the thumb-screw a is inelectric communication with the line-wire 0 through wire 3 armV'v, keyQ, and spring T, and that the thumbscrew b is in electric connectionwith the line-wire P through the hook W and the wire 2 or otherconductor leading to itself. If, under these conditions, the wires of anordinary Morse keyand relay-instrument are inserted in the saidthumb-screws a b, as indicated in red outline in Fig. 2, messages may besent and received through the same in the usual way.

The breaking device herein illustrated may be inserted along the line atfrequent intervals, ready for any emergency which may demand its use,and a railroad-conductor or any other person, if supplied with aletter-board like that here shown, or an equivalent device, and with aconnecting-pole, as described,will be thereby enabled to send messagesalong the line of wire, although entirely unskilled in the system oftelegraphing by the use of instruments and symbols.

Having thus described my invention, Iclaim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. In combination, the devices above shown forbreaking the electric connection upon a telegraph-line-that is to say,the block N and its appurtenances and the connecting-pole X and itsappurtenances, made and applied substantially as above set forth.

2. The block N and its spring T, in combination with the wires thatcompose a line of telegraph, substantially as above set forth.

ALONZO OHAOE.

Witnesses:

HoLLIs W. MOORE, RUssnL MARTIN.

